Just like in our DNA...

[Guido van Rossum]

wtanksle at dolphin.openprojects.net (William Tanksley) writes:

> I thought that had been determined a while ago -- it's the explanation I'm
> familiar with, in my non-specialist position.  In fact, one source I saw
> (I have no recollection at all where) claimed that most of our coding DNA
> is similar to most other species, and only the noncoding DNA is really
> different.
> 
> Seems kinda far-fetched, but there you have it.

The idea that most DNA is the same seems plausible to me -- like a
"subroutine library".  It could explain how certain variations
(e.g. different skin coloring patterns) can show up through
"mutations" very quickly if the environment changes.

It would also explain in part what viruses (the biological kind!) do:
they make calls into the subroutine library!

Of course there's also the matter that a large fraction of the genetic 
code encodes the basic cell metabolism (which is extremely complicated 
and totally essential to everything else) rather than outward
appearance and specializations like fang size or tail length.

I don't know that the difference would be in the non-coding DNA, though.

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)